Dinethya shocks seniors to book semi-final place

by Reemus Fernando

Fifteen-year-old Dinethya Dharmarathne turned tables on Oneli Perera and Vonara de Alwis to secure a place in the women’s singles semi-finals of the SSC Open Ranking Tennis tournament in Colombo on Thursday.

The Visakha Vidyalaya player beat Vonara de Alwis 7-5, 6-3 in the quarter-final yesterday after turning tables on Oneli Perera, the Under-18 champion of the recently concluded Colombo Championships.

In the third round, Dharmarathne overcame a first set defeat to beat Perera 3-6, 6-0, 10-4. The semi-final place is the highest achievement by the emerging player so far. Incidentally, it was Perera who eliminated Dharmarathne in the quarter-finals of the Colombo Championships.

Dharmarathne is the youngest in the semi-final line up now.

She is set to meet number one seed Janali Manamperi who beat Sethmi Sumanaweera 6-1, 6-0 in her match. The other semi-final will be between Savini Jayasuriya and Tania Doloswala who recorded victories in their matches.

In the men’s singles, Luca Knese, Sankha Atukorale, Vibuda Wijebandara and Kiran Vairavanathan completed the semi-final line up.

Atukorale is the number one seed of this Championship, which will conclude on March 7. While Knese beat number four seed Thehan Wijemanne, Wijebandara eliminated number three seed Savit Weerasinghe.

Results

Men’s Singles Quarter-finals

Luca Knese beat Thehan Wijemanne 6-2, 6-4

Sankha Atukorale beat Dumindu Dilum 6-2, 6-0

Vibuda Wijebandara beat Savit Weerasinghe 6-4, 6-2,

Kiran Vairavanathan beat Gayanath Senadeera 7-6, 6-2

Women’s Singles Quarter-finals

Janali Manamperi beat Sethmi Sumanaweera 6-1, 6

Dinethya Dharmaratne beat Vonara de Alwis 7-5, 6-3

Savini Jayasuriya beat Dewmini Warnasuriya 6-0, 6-1

Tania Doloswala beat Nelini Jayasuriya 6-4, 6-3